94 At, in; in, into; on, onto

A at and in

(For arrive at/in, see 93 B.) at

We can be at home, at work, at the office, at school, at university, at an address, at a certain point e.g. at the bridge, at the crossroads, at the bus-stop.

in

We can be in a country, a town, a village, a square, a street, a room,

a forest, a wood, a field, a desert or any place which has boundaries or

is enclosed.

But a small area such as a square, a street, a room, a field might be

used with at when we mean 'at this point' rather than 'inside'.

We can be in or at a building, in means inside only; at could mean

inside or in the grounds or just outside. If someone is 'at the station' he

could be in the street outside, or in the ticket office/waiting room/

restaurant or on the platform.

We can be in or at the sea, a river, lake, swimming pool etc.

in here means actually in the water:

The children are swimming in the river.

at the sea/river/lake etc. means 'near/beside the sea'. But at sea means 'on a ship'.

B in and into

in as shown above normally indicates position. into indicates movement, entrance:

They climbed into the lorry. I poured the beer into a tankard.

Thieves broke into my house/My house was broken into.

with the verb put, however, either in or into can be used:

He put his hands in/into his pockets. in can also be an adverb:

Come in = Enter. Get in (into the car).

C on and onto

on can be used for both position and movement:

He was sitting on his case. Snow fell on the hills.

His name is on the door. He went on board ship.

onto can be used (chiefly of people and animals) when there is movement involving a change of level:

People climbed onto their roofs. We lifted him onto the table.

The cat jumped onto the mantelpiece. on can also be an adverb:

Go on. Come on.

95 Above, over, under, below, beneath etc.

A above and over

above (preposition and adverb) and over (preposition) can both mean 'higher than' and sometimes either can be used:

The helicopter hovered above/over us.

Flags waved above/over our heads.

But over can also mean 'covering', 'on the other side of, 'across' and 'from one side to the other':

We put a rug over him.

He lives over the mountains.

There is a bridge over the river. all over + noun/pronoun can mean 'in every part of:

He has friends all over the world. above can have none of these meanings.

over can mean 'more than' or 'higher than'.

above can mean 'higher than' only.

Both can mean 'higher in rank'. But He is over me would normally mean

'He is my immediate superior', 'He supervises my work', above would

not necessarily have this meaning.

If we have a bridge over a river, above the bridge means 'upstream'.

over can be used with meals/food/drink:

They had a chat over a cup of tea. (while drinking tea) In the combination take + a time expression + over + noun/pronoun, over can mean 'to do/finish' etc.:

He doesn't take long over lunch/to eat his lunch.

He took ages over the job. (He took ages to finish it.)

above can also be an adjective or adverb meaning 'earlier' (in a book,

article etc.):

the above address (the previously mentioned address) see B above (the previously mentioned section B)

B below and under

below (preposition and adverb) and under (preposition) can both mean 'lower than' and sometimes either can be used. But under can indicate contact:

She put the letter under her pillow.

The ice crackled under his feet. With below there is usually a space between the two surfaces:

They live below us. (We live on the fourth floor and they live on

the third.)

Similarly: We live above them. (See A above.)

below and under can mean 'junior in rank'. But He is under me implies that I am his immediate superior, below does not necessarily have this meaning. (Both over and under can be used as adverbs, but with a change of

meaning.) C beneath can sometimes be used instead of under, but it is safer to

keep it for abstract meanings:

He would think it beneath him to tell a lie. (unworthy of him) She married beneath her. (into a lower social class)

D beside, between, behind, in front of, opposite

Imagine a theatre with rows of seats: A, B, C etc., Row A being nearest the stage.

Row A RowB		Stage
	Tom	Ann	Bill
	Mary	Bob	Jane

This means that:

Tom is beside Ann; Mary is beside Bob etc.

Ann is between Tom and Bill; Bob is between Mary and Jane.

Mary is behind Tom; Tom is in front of Mary.

But if Tom and Mary are having a meal and Tom is sitting at one side of the table and Mary at the other, we do not use in front of, but say:

Tom is sitting opposite Mary or Tom is facing Mary. But He stood in front of me could mean either 'He stood with his back to me' or 'He faced me'.

People living on one side of a street will talk of the houses on the other side as the houses opposite (us) rather than the houses in front of us. With other things, however, these restrictions do not apply:

She put the plate on the table in front of him.

She sat with a book in front of her.

Where's the bank? ~ There it is, just in front of you!

There's a car-park in front of/at the back of the hotel.

E Don't confuse beside with besides. beside = at the side of:

We camped beside a lake.

besides (preposition) = in addition to/as well as:

I do all the cooking and besides that I help Tom.

Besides doing the cooking I help Tom. besides (adverb) means (a) 'in addition to that/as well as that':

/ do the cooking and help Tom besides and (b) 'in any case/anyway':

We can't afford oysters. Besides, Tom doesn't like them. (See 327.)

F between and among

between normally relates a person/thing to two other people/things, but it can be used of more when we have a definite number in mind:

Luxembourg lies between Belgium, Germany and France. among relates a person/thing to more than two others; normally we have no definite number in mind:

He was happy to be among friends again.

a village among the hills

G with could also be used instead of among in the last sentence above. Also, of course, with a singular object:

He was with a friend. Examples of other uses:

He cut it with a knife.

Don't touch it with bare hands.

The mountains were covered with snow.

I have no money with me/on me.

He fought/quarrelled with everyone. In descriptions:

the girl with red hair

the boy with his hands in his pockets

the man with his back to the camera/with his feet on his desk

H but and except (prepositions)

These have the same meaning and are interchangeable.

but is more usual when the preposition + object is placed immediately

after nobody/none/nothing/nowhere etc:

Nobody but Tom knew the way.

Nothing but the best is sold in our shops.

except is more usual when the preposition phrase comes later in the sentence:

Nobody knew the way except Tom

and after all/everybody/everyone/everything/everywhere etc. but is more emphatic than except after anybody/anything/ anywhere etc.:

You can park anywhere but/except here. (You can't park here.) but and except take the bare infinitive (see 98). (For but for in conditional sentences, see 226. For but as a conjunction, see 326.)